


Mizimel

by CharlemagneGryffis



Series: Souls Have Names [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, soulbonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:25:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2626688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlemagneGryffis/pseuds/CharlemagneGryffis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tauriel wishes Kili to read his name off her back.- Soulbond Universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mizimel

Tauriel walked up to look into the cell, focusing on the heat on her back that came from looking on the youngest dwarf. He was flipping a stone, engraved with familiar, yet unfamiliar runes.

“The stone in your hand – what is it?”

She watched him stop, looking to her with seriousness in his eyes.

“It is a talisman. A powerful spell lies upon it. If any but a dwarf reads the runes on this stone, they will be forever cursed.” He held up the stone, prompting her to back away. If it were to be true, she would wish to be cursed, and even if it wasn’t – she couldn’t read dwarf runes anyway. That was why she was here afterall.

Then he spoke again, amusement in his voice. “Or not, depending on whether you believe that kind of thing. It’s just a token.” He smiled and she couldn’t help but smile back slightly. “A runestone. My mother gave it to me so I’d remember my promise.”

“What promise?”

“That I will come back to her.” Tauriel looked down, remembering the same promise her own mother made, but failed to keep. Unaware of her short reminiscing, he continued. “She worries. She thinks I’m reckless.”

“Are you?”

“Nah.” He threw the stone up, but failed to catch it. It rolled out of the cell, but Tauriel bent down and grabbed it before it could fall into the pit below. She traced the runes with her finger, recognizing certain patterns, if not the meaning.

“Sounds like quite a party you’re having up there.” He said.

“It is MerethenGilith, the Feast of Starlight.” She came closer, sitting down elegantly in front of the bars. “All light is sacred to the Eldar, but Wood Elves love best the light of the stars.”

“I always thought it is a cold light, remote and far away.”

She looked up, wondering how dwarves detected soul-mates. He did not seem to recognize her, or show any indication physically like how the name on her back warmed.

“It is memory, precious and pure. Like your promise.” She paused, wondering whether to hand back the stone, but decided against it. She needed to continue speaking to him, she needed to understand what the name on her back read.

“I have walked there sometimes, beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen the world fall away and the white light forever fill the air.”

“I saw a fire moon once. It rose over the pass near Dunland, huge; red and gold it was, filled the sky. We were an escort for some merchants from Ered Luin, they were trading in Silverbuck for furs. We took the Greenway south, keeping the mountain to our left, and then, this huge fire moon, right in our path. I wish I could show you...”

She smiled at the thought. “One harvest I saw a blue moon. I am not sure if you would be old enough to have seen it.”

He frowned. “How old do you think me to be?”

Tauriel shrugged. “I know not of Dwarven aging, but I am turning seven hundred and eighty-four this winter.”

His eyes bulged. “But you seem so young!”

Tauriel looked down, laughing slightly. “I am the second-youngest elf in all three Kingdoms at present. I am still over six hundred years away from maturity.”

He sat back against the wall of his cell with a laugh. “Well, when was this blue moon?”

Tauriel hummed. “Four hundred and thirty-three years past. It will be another sixty-seven before the moon turns cerulean once more.”

The dwarf laughed. “Well, I may live to see it yet. I am turning seventy-eight next Spring. Dwarf maturity is fickle, but the forty years between sixty and one hundred are the years we mature truly.”

Tauriel chuckled amusedly. “In human years, I suppose with this logic, I am of age and you are not. Though, I do think in human years there would not be such a gap.”

His nose wrinkled. “How are you of age and I am not? You have over six hundred years to wait – I have thirteen.” He suddenly blanched. “Oh no. Thirteen years.”

Tauriel looked at him with worry. “Are you well?” She gripped his token tighter.

He swallowed, smiling tightly. “Thirteen is an unlucky number. I have sudden doubts that I will live to see this quest through.”

Tauriel felt her throat constrict. “Let us not talk of such things. In any case, King Thranduil keeps his word. To him, one hundred years is a blink of an eye.”

A less-fake smile slipped onto his face. “I’d miss the blue moon. There are no windows.”

The elleth looked up, humming. “That there are not – and I have six hundred years to wait because, translating to human years, elven maturity is at the age of twenty-five, and not eighteen. Translating dwarven years, based on the concepts you have shared, you are nearly eighteen human years.”

The dwarf looked into space for a second, before looking to his fingers, counting them. “So right now, you’re the human equivalent of nineteen?”

“More-or-less.” She paused. “You have not shared your name.”

“Neither have you.” He shot back, before grinning. “I’m Kili. Who’re you?”

“Tauriel.” She said, before the heat became hotter. She flinched, sitting straighter as she felt her tunic start to heat uncomfortably.

Kili frowned. “What is wrong, Lady Tauriel? Are you injured?”

Tauriel grimaced. “Not quite.”

Legolas suddenly came out of the shadows. “Tauriel. _Tell me your name is not burning_.” His tone was angry, his elvish harsh, and she didn’t think before glaring at him.

“ _And if it is? I cannot read the Name upon it. I wish to understand, even if we cannot complete the Bonding both ways._ ”

Legolas stalked forward, gripping her shoulder before pulling her up, face in hers. “ _Do you not know the consequences?_ You are a fool, Tauriel!” He slipped into Westron by accident, as Tauriel glared fiercely at him.

“I am no fool! _We both have Dwarven Names on our backs, Legolas Greenleaf!_ ”

He froze. “ _How do you know?_ ”

She snorted. “ _We were children together, Legolas. Do you not remember when Arwen was but an elfling, and we used to traverse Arda just to play with her in the Ford of Bruinen?_ ”

Legolas flushed uncharacteristically. “ _You still should not say things like that here. Anyone could be listening_.”

Tauriel slipped out of his grip. “And what if people were to listen? They would pay it no heed, for Names are a matter none would dare interfere with, no matter what race the name is from. And it’s not like I can read it – it certainly isn’t my own name.” She spoke in Westron to alleviate any concern the dwarves may have had. But from the gasp she heard from the older, white-haired dwarf, she may have taken things too far.

Legolas glanced at the cell over the bridge. “Despite all of your maturity, Tauriel, you sometimes do not know when to shut your mouth. I will take my leave, and if you get into any trouble…” he shook his head, stepping back. “Captain of the Guard or no, my father would not hesitate to execute you. He holds no love for dwarves, as you know all too well.” He looked down on her visibly at that, reminding her forcefully of her height.

“Thank-you for expressing your concerns, your highness.” She said quietly, before he left. When she had finally heard his footsteps leave her range of hearing, she slowly turned and sunk back to the floor in front of Kili’s cell. He looked at her with a worried expression.

“Are you okay?”

She would have nodded, but the burning was painful now. Hissing, she put a hand on the small of her back, cursing the burn it gave.

“A question.” She grit her teeth. “Do dwarves have the names of their partner anywhere upon their skin? For burning is not part of elven culture when it comes to close proximity.”

Kili stared at her, before he hurriedly started taking off his arm-brace she now only noticed, as it blended in with his clothes and leathers, before rolling up his sleeve, showing a shimmering silver piece of writing in thin elven script.

“This is your name?” He asked, coming to the cell bars, holding out his arm through the spaces. She read it, twisting her head sideways, before nodding.

“Tauriel Haldamir Súrionien.” She uttered her full name for the first time in centuries, knowing its full meaning in its entirety. “That is my full name, and if I am correct, your own is upon my back and- _oh that hurts_.” She whimpered as the burn increased.

“Take my hand.” He said, voice strong. She took it, and almost immediately the burn disappeared, becoming colder and colder until it burnt freezing.

“It is freezing now. Is this normal for you?” She said, strained. Kili though, was wincing too, and that was when she saw her name turning blue, the skin around it having a blue spider-web effect, a single strand of red creeping up his wrist and over her fingers. She almost let go at the heat, as it moved up her fingers painfully, but Kili’s grip tightened momentously.

“It’ll be okay. Balin explained when I was younger, and again a few months ago.” Kili grimaced in pain, and even Tauriel had to bite her tongue as the cold spread out up her back and hand, much like it was on his arm. She saw another red line on Kili’s arm disappearing up his shirt, making his muscles clench. “It’s the Cross-Species Effect. Uncle Thorin went through it with my Aunt Bella. She’s a Hobbit, and had his name behind her ear, and he had what looked like a flower tattoo on his arm, that didn’t open to reveal her name until the Bonding had already started. When it’s between two Dwarven, the names just gain a red border, and the Bonded gain a Rune describing the other’s soul on their palm.”

Tauriel winced as the lines climbing up her back reached her arm joint, meeting the ones that had been working their way up her arm.

“In Elven culture, we have our Bonded’s name on the small of our back. We only have to read it in the presence of our Bonded to Bond. If they wish, the Bonded can get married, and most do, but some just have a relationship that keep them as close as siblings. The Elven twins, Elladan and Elrohir had each of their names on their backs, and once they said their names, their relationship as twins became more tight-knit than any of those before them.”

Kili winced, and Tauriel didn’t get another chance to speak as pain overwhelmed her. It felt like someone was carving around Kili’s name, with a fiery and icy pain so intense it wasn’t funny. Kili’s grip became bone-shattering, but he managed not to crush her finger beneath his grip, somehow. Then Tauriel felt the same happening on her wrist, and had to bite down hard on her lip, drawing blood.

And then there was a sharp prick on the middle of her palm, and both the pain and the lines were gone. She slumped, her composure lost for a second before she sat up again, taking her hand away. She looked to her wrist, pulling back the sleeve and seeing an identical name to the one on her back – though, this one not back-to-front due to a mirror. Kili heaved, drawing in a great breath before his other hand went to his back to rub it, the one that Tauriel had just been gripping lifting to in front of his eyes.

“’Eternal’. It suits you.” Kili said, before spotting her peering curiously at her own palm. “Let me see. I’ll read it for you.”

Cautiously, Tauriel handed her hand back, showing him the tiny rune. He traced it with calloused fingers, murmuring softly in a guttural language that she supposed was Dwarvish.

“’Loving’. Huh. That’s unusual. Not many a dwarf gets this as their Soul-Sign. Usually it’s something like ‘hard-working’, or ‘steadfast’. ‘Loving’ is unusual, but not uncommon. I’ll tell you what’s uncommon – patient. Oh, there’s some variations that are more-or-less the same but can mean other things, but never that exact word.” He didn’t give back her hand, instead turning it around to look at it. She moved it a bit, latching their fingers, making him give her a small but obviously happy smile.

Tauriel shifted though, coming closer before turning, taking off her over-coat and lifting her shirt underneath to show his name. He sucked in a breath.

“Oh.” He said, before he traced it. Tauriel shivered. “That…I didn’t realize. This doesn’t say Kili.”

Tauriel twisted back round abruptly. “What?”

He looked at her, panicked. He reached through the bars, taking her wrists and dragging her close, eyes wide in fear.

“Tauriel, you must listen.” His tone was urgent, and his grip constricting. “Dwarves have two names. Their true name, and the name they go by. I go by Kili, but my true name is upon your wrist and on your back. You must not let anyone see them.”

Tauriel nodded, eyes wide. He went to let her go, but his eyes gained a hint of mischief before he leaned against the bars, pulling her forward to kiss him. She was momentarily surprised, but then she actually started to reciprocate. His grip on her wrists changed, one taking her hand while the other moved to rub her lower thigh.

After a minute, they broke apart for air. Kili was blushing, and Tauriel couldn’t help but put a hand to her lips, tugging on the bottom one lightly before she finally gave him his token back.

“Here. It is yours.”

He gave her a fond grin before pressing it back into her hand. “No, you must keep it for me, Mizimel.”

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

He winked. “Maybe one day, I’ll tell you. Keep it safe for me, Mizimel, and may the day you give it back to me never come.”

Tauriel smiled, and then he whispered his name.


End file.
